Plants put up many barriers to the retention, entry and transport of active agents, such as growth inhibitors and stimulators. In addition, environmental conditions and plant factors (age, architecture, leaf morphology and leaf arrangement) may decrease the activity of a plant modulator. Adjuvants are commonly used to improve the performance of plant modulator performance.
Foliar feeding wasn't commercially successful until the 1960's when a few farmers increased yields in selected crops and improved the activity of herbicides. Foliar feeding methods are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 7,494,526 discusses the use of nanoscalor encapsulation of nutrition that can be absorbed foliarly. U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,242 discloses the use of an aerosol propellant to apply oil-based emulsions onto plant tissue. U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,165 disclosed the use of a soy lecithin to act as a spreader-sticker to enhance foliar uptake of all fertilizer combinations and increase the shelf-life of the product. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,321,040, 6,451,741 and 6,642,179 describe the use of foliarly applied foam as the delivery system for pesticides, fungicides or plant growth regulators.
More recently, the most extensive and effective use of foliar feeding lies within the turf industry, namely golf courses and sports fields. In these industries, the primary method of delivery of nutrients to the leaf surface is by spraying a fine mist made of a dilute solution of nutrients and quite frequently with an adjuvant. However, this method has drawbacks of being labor intensive, subject to inaccurate measurements of the nutritional compounds, subject to improper sprayer operation and interference by natural factors, such as wind and rain.
The use of foliar feeding on plants in horticulture or landscaping is unknown. These plants are primarily fed by soil applied granular applications or through “hose-end” applicators containing water soluble nutrients applied to the soil.
There are many patents pertaining to the mitigation of urine damage on turf. U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,615 discusses the use of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizer combined with granular gypsum to enhance the growth of the turf surrounding the spot. U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,837 claims that the use of absorbent pads in a specially designed toilet station will prevent damage by directing the canine to the pads. U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,826 describes a chemical that, when applied to only one spot, will entice the pet to preferentially use that spot and not any other location in the yard. It would be advantages to develop at composition and method to mitigate damage caused to plants by pet urine.